“A new media object is not something fixed once and for all, but something that can exist in different, potentially infinite versions.”

This quote is a great explanation of the principle of variability that Manovich proposed concerning digital media. In essence, variability allows for customization of media that wasn’t possible before the digital era. Take photography for example; before the Adobe suite and digital software were introduced, there was no way for people to “remix” photographs when all that was available was the original piece. All they could do was make duplicates of that photograph, but all the copies were the same. Now, photography in today’s age is vastly different. Yes, you can still make duplicates of photos, but the content of the photo itself can be manipulated to each individual’s liking; you can add layers and layers of adjustments to the photo as well as manipulate it to look completely different from the original. Essentially it is still the same photo, but there are ‘potentially infinite versions’ that can be made from that original. The way I understood it was like a family tree diagram. With little to no variability back then, the diagram would just be a straight line; each extension would be the same photo. But with new media, the diagram expands and branches out to form the “tree” that we are all familiar with. Each branch contains some element of the original, but ultimately, they are their own individual pieces. The only similarity they share is their root. That is my understanding of variability in new media.